The recent report of the sexual abuse of female trainees in the
Air Force underscores the urgency of a film like Kirby Dick's documentary about
rape in the military, "The Invisible War." Already the film has inspired
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to reform the way the crime is reported,
investigated, and prosecuted by a military system which has until now been
covering it up and pretending it doesn't exist.

The second biggest ovation at the festival so far that I have heard occurred at the end of "The Invisible War," Kirby Dick's wrenching documentary about rape in the military, when the epilogue revealed that two days after seeing the film Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta instituted reforms in the way sexual crimes were to be investigated and prosecuted.